Carbine won by the narrowest of noses in the $36,111 Open Pace at Eldorado Scioto Downs on Saturday, May 17.
Driven by Tyler Smith, odds-on favourite Carbine got away fourth from post five while PJ Lou (Marc St. Louis Jr.) stacked Artatac A (Koltin Noble) and Twin B Seasmonster (Cam McCown) through the first turn to the :25.4 opening quarter. As the field went under the wire for the first time, Carbine was rolling first-up to challenge the leader by the :53.4 half. Midway down the backside, Carbine was able to tuck back in as Artatac A was gapping in the pocket. As the field got into the last turn after the 1:21 third quarter mark, Carbine popped the pocket and challenged PJ Lou through the stretch. At the wire, Carbine was on top over PJ Lou in 1:49.3, with Surreal Ideal (Luke Hanners) coming from the back of the pack to finish third.
Carbine, a seven-year-old by Somebeachsomewhere out of the Cams Card Shark mare Shot Togo Bluechip, now has five wins in 14 seasonal starts. Lifetime, he has hit the board in 62 of his 102 starts while earning $788,340. The stallion -- who, for the second year, is racing and breeding -- is owned by Odds On Racing and trained by Virgil Morgan Jr.
Overall on the Saturday card, Tyler Smith had a grand slam while Brett Miller had three victories and the Aussie invader, James Herbertson, had two. Virgil Morgan Jr., Adam Short and Steve Carter each had two training wins for the night.
Through the first eight cards of the season, Scioto’s 2024 leading driver Dan Noble is sitting atop the leaderboard with 25 wins in 100 starts, Brett Miller is sitting second while Chris Page rounds out the top three. Scioto’s perennial leading trainer, Virgil Morgan Jr., currently has 15 wins in 58 seasonal starts, Ron Burke has 10 wins in 39 starts to sit second and Steve Carter is sitting third.
Racing at Scioto takes a break until Tuesday evening, with another 16-race card going postward at 5:45 p.m. New for the 2025 season is the $7,500 guaranteed mid-card Pick-4 each weekday, starting in race seven.
(Scioto Downs)